Margo Kingston's web diary captures some powerful thoughts on the current state of Australia.
At the moment, Pauline Hanson's treatment by the political elites and Tony Abbott's lying is the subject of debate. The following is from a
contributor to Margo (Margo wrote a fascinating book on Pauline Hanson) a few years ago:
"... Antony Loewenstein has a deep understanding of what is going on. He says "Only when Australia cherishes the art of the dialogue, rather than the monologue, can we can call ourselves a truly progressive nation". How powerful is that?
You got that a long time ago. Back when Hanson was on her roll, what did you do? She represented the antithesis of your views in many ways. Did you respond to that by sitting in your office in Canberra or Sydney denouncing this terrible woman? Did you do a Mike Carlton and call her the "witch of Ipswich" and scoff at every action she took? No. What you did was say "Hang on, something huge is happening here and I have to understand it". The only way to truly understand it is to go there. Go and see for yourself. Go and listen. Watch, talk and observe. Face uncomfortable realities about your own country."
"If Pauline Hanson is the vehicle to once again mobilise others, then that is just fine. I'm not really in the mood to be too precious about any of this. Of course I don't agree with her on most things. Her central message though is that the people are not being listened to. She is clearly NOT part of the system and people are attracted to her vulnerability. Well she's never looked more vulnerable than she does now. Never more vulnerable but then again, never has she had so many people say so many nice things about her. It's not that people are blindly supporting an underdog. She is clearly in a place where she does not belong and the picture of who put her there has become abundantly clear. What an ugly picture."
